Thursday, January 11, 2007

Tales From The Crypt: Miserable in Paradise

What a day!

I just saw first hand evidence over a 10 day stretch that money can't buy happiness. But it sure can pay for an expensive venue to complain.

Having just returned from a 10 day Hawaiian holiday/ cruise, I feel more than a little humbled by how lucky myself and my family really are. But wait- maybe if I listen hard and long enough, I may realize that I am not happy and that the cruise was shit... there were certainly enough people repeating this to convince me if I would let them.

We all have to be really careful, or we can easily fall into the sheep mentality of allowing negativity to affect us. Vis a vis;

One couple who was "enjoying" their 69th cruise complained about the food, the service, etc etc

One fellow on the tour bus in Kona "educated" the whole bus on how our cruise lines sucks, and the other 4 he has tried are better. Worse he is spreading negativity and a spiled attitude to his 4 yr old son who has already been on 5 cruises.

The line ups, the price, the length of shore stops, and much more were all cause for complaint amongst the "holier than thous" who jam packed the boat despite their loud objections.

Here's the funny thing- if you do listen, it becomes almost a competition- who has the worst service story, who had a worse experiance, etc.

Newsflash: not inspiring. Keep it to yourself Merryweather Abbeygale Nottingham III. The rest of us are happy to be there. Some of us who HAD TO WORK to get there want to see the sights for the first time, and don't want to be bothered with what they are doing or serving on your yacht.

The sad part is, the hard working mothers and fathers who are going to be paying for that trip for years (or who saved up ahead of time for years by sacrificing). The ones who want their kids to swim with a sea turtle because that is a real one-of-a-kind life changing experiance. They don't give two shits if the prime rib is tough or the lobster is cold.

Not saying money is evil- it is not. But the "holier than thou" approach is evil; it is wrong and hurtful and leads to a negative spiral of blame rather than accountable action. This story does not just apply to holidays, of course... we have an attitude every day as to how we view the world. Are you going to share your pessimistic view with others and bring them down a notch?

Or are we going to think of the young kids beaming with ear to ear grins, and their parents who vicariously share that grin, because they swam with sea turtles? The ones who actually did something rather than sat on the sidelines and bitched about the game or the weather or how the 'ref' was calling it (ie how circumstances are outside their control).

Get in the game, get dirty, and get busy living. Don't bitch about how much "above" the game you are...